Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Cuvée 'Sainte Anne' NV
IN STOCK - 5 left in stock
$77.00
There are few producers in all of Champagne who could make a better case for terroir-driven wines than Alexandre Chartogne. A visit with him at his family estate offers a deep dive into both the largely overlooked history and geological diversity of his hometown of Merfy, just a fifteen-minute drive from Reims in the Massif de Saint-Thierry, where his family has tended vines for centuries.
Since taking over his family's estate in 2006, Alexandre is constantly evolving, observing and questioning how to best express his individual parcels. Convinced that it is indeed the soils and subsoils, alive and preserved, which forge the identity of wine, in Champagne as much as in neighboring Burgundy, he has dug deep into historical maps and documents from his family archive, spent countless hours carefully analyzing soils of each plot to better guide his work and has never been afraid of experimentation in his cellar.
This inquisitive and passionate approach over the past ten years, has made him one of the superstars in Champagne today. The resulting wines have energy, character and longevity with a delicate touch and finesse that highlights both an underlying salinity and the personality of each of his terroirs. We are honored to play a part in the preservation of something so special.
Sainte Anne is now aged and vinified in 228-, 350- and 2000-litre barrels. A small portion of this Champagne has been aged in tanks, mostly the reserve wines. The Champagnes of our village need oxygen to deliver the message indicative of their origins. Each plot is vinified differently (topped-up or not, casks of different provenances, etc.). This enables us to obtain unique and identifiable characteristics from this period in the life of our Champagnes. Once the aging of wines from each plot has been completed, we combine these different reflections of the village to create a blend that aims to be fully representative of Merfy's wines. We seek the crystalline texture emblematic of wines from Merfy's sandy limestone terroirs, to preserve our village's unique identity.
The wines do not tolerate filtration. Filtration would modify the wines' textures too much, and therefore alter the balance of richness/saltiness on the palate. The wines of Sainte Anne are blends from different plots, but also from different vintages. Older harvest years soften and temper the lively and spirited character of the younger wines. After aging in the cellar, Sainte Anne is disgorged with a Brut dosage that hardly varies from year to year. The dosage tests indicate that 4-7 g of sugar are needed to rebalance the aggressiveness and vigour of the bubbles, without masking the nature of the wine and its density. We use a liqueur made from the same wine as the cuvée that is being disgorged.
The Sainte Anne cuvée is the sensory translation of wines from the different soils of the village of Merfy. Each of the village's plots contributes part of its identity to "create" this cuvée. Sainte Anne's textures are revealed throughout the entire length on the palate. Often initially opulent on the palate, the salts from the sands then give rise to a salivating bitterness. The finish leaves a tight structure that recalls the origin of Champagne wines.
Producer: Chartogne-Taillet
Country: France
Region: Champagne
Varietal: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier
Appellation: Champagne Premier Cru
Vintage: NV
Size: 750ml
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